Just Got Done With Inpatient

So I was just release from being inpatient today. I went in Friday to do a complete med overhaul. I was taken off of Abilify and Geodon completely. I was put on 100mg of Trazodone for sleep, 30mg of Cymbalta for depression, 1mg twice a day of Klonopin for anxiety and 450mg twice a day of Lithium. Anyone have any experience with this kind of combo? Or any of these meds individually?

Round and round of the medication go round. Got to love it.

Hope the med adjustment works well for you.

I only have experience with lithium. I was on it for a year but the side effects were to much for me I discontinued use, and switched to Abilify.

My side effects were: Major sleepiness, tremors, bladder issues, an inability to function daily due to drowsiness. Just to name a few.

But that's my experience. We all react differently.

i hope your new cocktail is THE ONE

never taken together but ive taken some if those seperately:
i took camcolit which is a non extended release coated tablet because generic lithium carbonate made me nauseous. i had some tremor in my hands and a good 2 weeks of the poops when i first started. had fair results with stability between eposodes but it did not stop annual episodes.

cymbalta i used for pain and i did well on it. when starting i felt anxious and what i now know to be mania. i was not BP dx'ed so thats why i was on the SSNRI with no mood meds to balance it. the mania didnt last very long and i felt good for the majority of the 18 months or so that i used it. i stopped because my liver enzymes were getting screwy. i found it hard to wean and during that process i developed a tick that is still with me.

klonopin did very little for me but im not very susceptible to benzos. i use them but its finding the one that has the best click with my receptors. so far thats been ativan. i also react wel to diazepam but my pdoc doesnt like to use it.

I tried Trazadone and found it very effective in knocking me out to sleep. It made me very sleepy and made it hard to drag myself up if I wanted to get up.

Congrats on being released from inpatient. I've taken Klonopin on and off for several years. When I took 1 mg- it helped me feel calm and I didn't have any side effects. It was extremely beneficial for me to take.

I worked with my p-doc to discontinue usage since I was successful in getting my anxiety stabilized. When I discontinued- I worked with my p-doc and discontinued the dosage until I got down to .5 mg. It took me a long time to get to that point though!

Best of luck getting adjusted to your new meds- keep us posted on how you're feeling.

Klonopin works for me. Lithium I have a love-hate relationship.

Cymbalta made me manic but I LOVE lithium. I consider it a miracle drug and no real ode effects!

Glad to hear you made it out of inpatient. Hope your meds work well.

My fiance, who's also bipolar, takes 100mg Trazadone for sleep and it works wonderfully, even though other sleep drugs failed. Klonopin was the last benzo I tried before declaring benzos useless to me, but lots of people find relief on it and it's pretty benign side-effect wise.

My only concern with the combo you listed is that your signature says your diagnosis is Schizoaffective and you're no longer taking an anti-psychotic. I'm curious what the reasoning is for that.

Hi, sorry to hear, I hate being inpatient-you have no free will in most pysch wards I've been too. I'm no pdoc, but they probably took you off Geodon and Abilify because both will block dopamine, causing depression. Trazodone is overused for sleep, and is an old TCA...you can take up to 450mg. Cymbalta at 30mg probably won't probably do anything, I needed 120mg to help lift my depression. And that's a common dose of Klonopin, if you feel dumb or have a hard time coming up with words it's the Klonopin. And I'm actually on 900mg daily of Lithium and feel a little relief from depression after being on it a couple of weeks. I'd make sure your pdoc does a blood test to check your lithium levels, vitamin b and d levels, thyroid, which they probably did in the psych ward, and if you're male, testosterone levels...then your pdoc can have a better overview of how to treat you! Best of luck. Oh also, I'd recommend the genesight psychotropic test!

Dangit.. I was hoping that would be a good sleep pill... I'm getting off my current.mess to sleep.. guess when the dr goes.to get.me something new that's off the list. Thanks for the info. I have to be able to get up and feel half way alive

You shouldn't write it off just because some people feel hung over the next morning. Not everyone does. My fiance doesn't.